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To: Galirayo who wrote (21617)	1/4/2007 5:27:22 PM
From: ACAN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23958

Ray; US Senate Bills Would Boost Ethanol, Liquid Coal By Maya Jackson Randall Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A group of U.S. senators has decided to start off the new, 110th Congress by introducing a bill aimed at helping drivers fill up their cars with ethanol, a gasoline alternative largely produced from corn. The BioFuels Security Act was introduced Thursday by a group of senators mostly from the U.S. corn belt - Barack Obama, D-Ill., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Joseph Biden, D-Del. The ambitious bill calls for the oil industry to, by 2030, blend 60 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel annually in motor vehicle fuel. The provision is a huge jump from a standard established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That law created a so-called renewable fuels standard that required 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel to be blended in the nation's fuel supply by 2012. Additionally, the BioFuels Security Act aims to increase the number of gasoline stations that carry E-85, a gasoline blend that is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Under the legislation, large oil companies would have to install E-85 pumps at their stations. The goal is to have about 50% of all major brand gasoline stations nationwide with E-85 pumps within 10 years, the senators said in a statement. Also, automakers would be required to gradually increase their production of flex-fuel vehicles, or cars that can run on alternative fuels. Flex-fuel vehicles make up only about 2% of the vehicles on the road today, but the bill aims to to increase that amount by 10 percentage points annually until almost all of the nation's vehicles are flex-fuel cars. The bill, the senators said, willhelp boost the economy in rural America, reduce oil consumption and improve the environment. "It's time for Congress to realize what farmers in America's heartland have known all along - that we have the capacity and ingenuity to decrease our dependence on foreign oil by growing our own fuel, but what we've been lacking is the political will," said Obama. Separately, Obama along with Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., also introduced a bill Thursday that would authorize the Department of Energy to administer loan guarantees and other incentives for the construction of coal-to-liquid plants. The coal-derived liquid is another alternative fuel the senators say could help reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. The bill would also expand tax credits for CTL plant construction and authorizes Defense Department research and development funding.